‘Jeopardy’s Alex Trebek Diagnosed With Cancer

Alex Trebek revealed, via a message on the Jeopardy!YouTube page, he has been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. You can watch it above.

The video also included a full transcript of his message, which included a diagnosis, a vow to keep working even as he fights the disease, and even a joke or two:

Hi everyone, I have some news to share with all of you and it’s in keeping with my longtime policy of being open and transparent with our Jeopardy! fan base. I also wanted to prevent you from reading or hearing some overblown or inaccurate reports regarding my health. So therefore, I wanted to be the one to pass along this information. Now, just like 50,000 other people in the United States each year, this week I was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Now normally, the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I’m going to fight this, and I’m going to keep working. And with the love and support of my family and friends and with the help of your prayers also, I plan to beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease. Truth told, I have to! Because under the terms of my contract, I have to host Jeopardy! for three more years! So help me. Keep the faith and we’ll win. We’ll get it done. Thank you.

TMZ confirms that Alex will at the very least “finish out the current season of Jeopardy.” We wish Trebek the very best — Jeopardy! would not be the same without him.